How to be more consistent with your self-care.
Sometimes, I’m just not in the mood to do my self-care. And I know I’m not alone.
Often times, you know what you need to feel better, protect your energy and feel well and rested. Other times, life happens. Emergencies come up. Projects are due. Things don’t go according to plan. And the self-care routine gets moved lower and lower on the priority list.
While practicing self-care every once in a while is better than not practicing self-care at all, overall burnout prevention and recovery requires consistency, discipline and intentionality. To recover from periods of burnout, it’s important to reflect on your intentions for practicing. Here are a few ways you can build your ability to consistently take care of yourself:
Start reframing your thoughts around your self-care.
The truth is: your self-care is truly an invitation to feeling better.
Literally every time. All you have to do is start. When you’re faced with the decision to engage in a self-care practice or not, try your best to do it. Doing some of the practices, habits and routines that help you show up as your favorite version of yourself is part of committing to a consistent burnout recovery plan. Which leads up to the next important intention to remember . . .
Avoid expecting perfection from yourself.
Perfection can drain you & perfection can get in the way. ✨Imperfect✨ self-care is way more helpful.
When consistency is valued over perfection, you’ll notice that committing to the practices that help you feel well become that much easier to do. If you need to, get into the habit of modifying your burnout recovery practices for when you’re short on time or bandwidth. For instance:
Can’t journal for 30 minutes? Journal for 5 minutes.
Not able to make it to your exercise class? Put on a Youtube workout video and sweat it out.
Struggling to find time to finish that one book? Try to find the audiobook version to listen to instead.
You deserve to creatively leave perfection behind on your burnout recovery journey.
Create and commit to self-care practices that support you when your energy is high and when it’s low.
It’s important to adjust and adapt your self-care practices to support you at any energy-level.
I’ve noticed in my work that many overachievers and perfectionists create lofty self-care practices that require an abundance of high energy and effort. Remember to fit in self-care practice that honor when your energy is low too. Adjust your expectations for yourself and don’t hesitate to reprioritize your to-do list during times of high stress, adversity and life challenges.
Pro-tip: plan ahead for busy days. Consider thinking about what your future self would need after a tiring, frustrating or overwhelming day. One way that I take care of my future self is by preparing a couple of meal ideas in advance. For me, it’s one less task I have to do think about for myself and my family after a long day.
Key points to remember to stay consistent to your self-care practice:
Update your self-care routines to fit your needs
Modify your routines for when your energy is high AND when your energy is low
Allow yourself to practice self-care imperfectly
Remind yourself that your self-care is an invitation to feel better.
For more ideas to stay consistent with your self-care practice? Grab my list of recommended books you can use to practice self-care and rest more by clicking here.
